Jesus and conventional wisdom

"They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known." --"Summer, Highland Falls," Billy Joel, 1975

Joel wrote the words forming this column's epigram during a pleasant visit the pop singer and composer made to Highland Falls, New York.

In 1975, I was beginning my senior year in high school.

It was the era of leisure suits and bell-bottom trousers.

Some readers with perfect powers of recollection may recoil in horror from the ghastly look of the long-ago attire.

The sartorial sense of the time was matched by a cratering economy.

More on that in a moment.

In 1975, the country was gearing up for the nation's 1976 bicentennial just as now, Missouri is preparing for its own 200th birthday this year.

Many patriotic songs filled the airwaves back then and we sure seemed to need such music -- especially at the time.

Joel penned the lyrics as the country was barely a year removed from President Richard Nixon's resignation.

Nixon's successor Gerald Ford, coping with a massive slowdown in the public and private sectors, had gamely launched an acronym attached to a slogan in an effort to rally the nation: WIN: Whip Inflation Now.

High unemployment, a stagnant economy and runaway inflation caused Ford's administration to generate "WIN" buttons, placards, clothing, stickers and assorted other visual paraphernalia.

Enthusiasm for the WIN campaign waned as 1975 began as Ford's program failed to generate results.

What I recall from the presidential rhetoric during this period are two things:

• On my 17th birthday, Oct. 29, 1975, Ford announced that the federal government had denied a federal bailout to nearly bankrupt New York City, prompting the New York Post tabloid to print the following banner on its front page: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."
• Ford also declared inflation to be "public enemy No. 1."

Let's dwell on the second point for the duration of this weekend missive.

The notion of "enemies" is a malleable idea, isn't it?

Eighty years ago, in 1941, the enemy was the Axis Powers: Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and Fascist Italy.

More than forty-five years ago, the enemy was inflation.

Twenty years ago, 2001, the enemy were foreign terrorists who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in southwestern Pennsylvania -- my home region.

Today? The enemy depends on who is responding to the inquiry: domestic terrorists, news media, insurrectionists, socialists, Democrats, Republicans, people who don't think as we do, et al.

Take your pick.

Feel free to add your own.

Two things emerge from the foggy haze of introspection for me.

One, there will always be challenging times and because our public memories generally are short in duration, we tend to think whatever we are living through currently is the toughest time imaginable.

Two, there will always be enemies, so why dwell on them and give them power?

From Joel to Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth is my savior, but he was a genius when it came to right sizing our attitudes.

"You have heard it said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" (Matthew 5:43-46/New International Version)

The aforementioned comes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, a teaching delivered to a crowd while the Galilean sat on the Mount of Olives.

Long story short, Jesus upended conventional wisdom on a series of topics, including divorce, revenge and yes, on enemies.

In order to follow Jesus' teaching to love enemies requires a redefinition, a reimagining, of what love means.

If by love in Matthew ch. 5, He meant affection, I can't do it.

But I don't sense Jesus is talking about smothering those who are in opposition to us with warm feelings.

Instead, I choose to interpret "love your enemies" as wanting the best for opponents, to help them, as time and circumstances allow, to be their better selves.

I've had personal enemies in my life and some of them, frankly, are still around.

If I allow those persons to create in me resentment, discord, even hate, I've ignored the Master's instruction and effectively, have swallowed a slow-acting poison.

One of the reasons to read and re-read Jesus' words in the Gospels is He helps you discard conventional wisdom and to see situations from heaven's perspective.

It's a daily challenge to keep His ideas in my mind. I'm trying.